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So, I think it’s time for a change of direction with this blog. I started it back in the summer of 2013, wanted a theme, etc., but the themed blog thing has really never worked well for me. It feels like way too much pressure, and then when I want to write about something that’s not on the theme, I don’t do it, because it doesn’t fit. Then I start to feel bad that I’m not “keeping up” with the blog (like there are blog police or something). I don’t want to burden forum friends with my copious musings, so I don’t put them there. I don’t keep a journal. It’s just all stuck up in my head, and is all too segmented. But my thoughts don’t fit into neat little boxes – I suppose no one’s do.

I think it helps to let go of the idea that any and every blog I start must make money. I can just have a blog. That’s ok. Honestly. It doesn’t have to be a gateway to a business. I’d like to have my own business, and I’d like to blog about it. But the blog doesn’t have to BE the business. That’s one thing I’ve learned – the publishing schedule required to build an readership, well, it’s not really for me. Or maybe when I open up and allow myself to truly post whatever I need to get out there, it will be for me. And then there won’t be a discernable theme so people know if they are a kindred or not. Uffda. So anyway, blog baggage, setting you aside.

So that’s it. THIS is going to be my blog, and ok, I’ll keep up Twin Cities Gluten Free as well, since it’s pretty well developed already, though it has a paltry readership. But my green/frugal blog? Bye bye. The blog about personal explorations? Bye bye. Come into the fold of wonder, greenness/frugality/personal growth. You are going to live here now. And it might even become a bit of mommy blog, too. That’s the most terrifying part. Mommy blogs are polarizing!! Even if someone’s just talking about their own personal experience as a mom!

So that’s the segue into the title of the post. I have been reading Daring Greatly by Brené Brown, where she explores vulnerability and how we must be able to feel and display it, no matter how much it sucks. Her two TED talks hooked me, and the book has me thinking about vulnerability every time I pick it up (usually before bed, hmmm, perhaps not the best choice . . . ). Which brings me to my fave, fave, fave blogs . . . Organized Chaos and Bill, Miss and Brood and Puttylike (where I was inspired by a recent post to make this change here). I have many others that I like pretty dang well, but these three are the READ-EVERY-SINGLE-POST blogs in my feed reader. And you know why? Because all of the authors are vulnerable. They put it out there – not to whine, not to impress, just to be themselves and to be frank about where they are at with life at the moment. But it’s not just that. It’s about recognizing where they are at, but then what the next step is or what the lesson is from having been in that place, even if it’s still becoming clear. I would like to be able to be like that, both in the blogosphere and in real life. So Brené has me working on it. 🙂

I told a writing buddy about my idea for this blog, and when I’m feeling blue or like it’s kind of pointless because soon school will start and we’ll be buried in the slog of life, I remind myself of her words about my goal of “an adventure a day.”

I find it helps slow down time, so the brain has more memories to cling to.

That seems so important. Lately I’ve felt foggy and clumsy. I remind myself that even if my adventures feel small, that when I look back in many years, it will be these that I remember, not the drudgery of work, or vacuuming, or dishes, or whatever other things I allow to get in my way.

2) Walking the dogs on the Minneapolis side of the river. There is an ongoing joke that St. Paulites don’t go to Minneapolis and vice versa, and it’s remarkably true! This might seem like a mini mini mini adventure given how close we really do live to Minneapolis, but it was important because as we were watering the community garden plot, I declared to my husband that we were going to try a new dog walking spot, but didn’t tell him that I actually had no idea where that spot would be, and he didn’t ask. Normally he would need to know exactly what I might have in mind. So we drove across Lake Street bridge and down the West River Road and ended up right at the oak savanna in the Mississippi River gorge. Beautiful. This unique ecosystem is only a fraction of 1% of the oak savanna that used to exist in MN. Fire suppression allowed the areas to turn into oak forests instead. One of my favorite orgs, Friends of the Mississippi River, has volunteering opps to help maintain the area. It was fun because I’d heard of it, but didn’t know that was exactly the spot where it was at, and we weren’t looking for it or anything.

3) In crochet news, I learned the popcorn stitch to make the flower on this hat.

Easy hat and easy flower made from donated yarns for Team Yarn.

4) Reading the Harry Potter series! I only saw the first two movies and now I am on book #4 so even though it is old to the rest of the world, it is new and exciting to me. 🙂

5) Yoga. Tried a new studio and have gone twice and enjoyed the class both times. The vinyasa class I did today was difficult. Hopefully continued practice will help with my balance. Uffda!